Romero Jorge 1

Oscar Romero Jorge Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1103 10/02/13 Mente Abierta Imagine a meado and as !our brain processes the sight !ou" understand e#er! step !our brain ta$es to gi#e !ou the image !ou see" all the deer" rosebushes" s%uirrels !ou see ha#e been de#eloped inside o& !our mind and !ou are a are o& the entire process' (his po er o#er !our mind also pro#ides !ou access to other abilities !ou did not $no ere possible be&ore' )ou shut

!our e!es and concentrate on !our mother" and through the strong emotional bond !ou hold ith her !ou spea$ to her and !our #oice echoes in !our mind' *&ter a &e seconds !ou here !our mother+s #oice in !our mind responding to hat !ou said !oursel&' ,o incredible this is- .ut" indeed incredible it appears to be to us" !et neuroscientists ha#e been contemplating ideas much li$e this and other possibilities that could arise b! comprehensi#el! understanding the brain+s neurological mapping and &unctions' *ccording to /r' John 0' /onoghue" &rom Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc., ith the use o& the .raingate 1!stem technolog! the! aim to someda! allo paral!2ed indi#iduals to use their o n muscles again to &eed themsel#es again and more' (he .raingate 1!stem technolog! /r' John 0' /onoghue is /irector o& .rain 1cience 0rogram at .ro n 3ni#ersit!' Considering the possibilities presented as o& no " neuroscience seems to be going to ards a spectacular cause' 4h! should e not continue to promote the research o& neurolog!5 4ith the goal that /r' /onoghue pursues it is must be crucial that the neurological research continue to thri#e so that the technolog! is de#eloped to pro#ide handicapped people a &orm to

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rehabilitate' ,a#ing complete control o& the human cerebrum leads to endless capabilities the imagination creates' (he bene&its o& neuroscience can is summed up on the about page o& the 1ociet! &or 6euroscience ebsite" 7More than 1"000 disorders o& the brain and ner#ous s!stem result in more hospitali2ations and lost producti#it! than an! other disease group" including heart disease and cancer'8 I must as$ again" h! should e not continue to promote the research o& 6euroscience5 9et+s consider nuclear energ! and ho it has both its good and bad' 6uclear eapons are #er! dangerous i& ielded b! the rong po er and histor! can sho us hat disastrous e&&ects it can cause' .ut" nuclear energ! emerged &rom that $no ledge and toda! it is a proposed solution to the energ! crisis' ,a#ing this in mind" ponder on hat bene&its neuroscience has :ust introduced and also begin to thin$ about hat t!pe o& negati#e e&&ects could arise &rom comprehensi#el! understanding the composition and operations o& the human cerebrum' *ccording to an article b! (homas ;uchs" 7Mood" memor!" attention" alertness and other cogniti#e capacities are on the agenda &or <brain enhancement+ or <mind doping+' (he product range o& pharmaceutical companies increasingl! aims at health! persons illing to increase their ell=being and per&ormance b! legal drug use'8 (homas ;uchs" here" is re&erring to some capabilities that ha#e alread! been de#eloped ith the use o& pharmaceuticals' *ttention de&icit h!peracti#it! disorder" or */,/" has become ell=$no n in toda!+s societ! and ;uchs" in his article Ethical Issues in Neuroscience" gi#es e>amples o& health! college students ta$ing medicine that is prescribed commonl! to indi#iduals ith */,/ to enhance their alertness' 6o " considering humans ha#e alread! begun to utili2e their small understanding o& the composition and operations o& the cerebrum" hat bad could come &rom disco#ering the entire

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&unctions and mappings o& the neurological s!stem5 3nderstanding the brain ill grant the human race a great deal o& control o#er man! diseases and ho to repair neural trauma but it ill also pro#ide much more accurate in&ormation about hen a sub:ect is l!ing or telling the truth' 4ill this lead to a possible personal pri#ac! #iolation5 ;uchs states" 7.rain processes are intimatel! bound to oursel#es and personal identit!' Our sense o& pri#ac! ma! be threatened b! technologies that can re#eal the neural correlates o& Ethical issues in neuroscience our innermost thoughts and unconscious attitudes"8 this leads us to contemplate that ith the means o& $no ing hen an indi#idual is l!ing could also pro#ide the researchers the po er to read entire thoughts' (oda! the go#ernment has alread! been utili2ing telephone con#ersations to trac$ do n 7trigger8 ords so that an! criminal acts could be detained be&ore the! reach the point o& se#erel! hurting an!one' 4ith this technolog! in an! go#ernment po er a much more thorough" not necessaril! ade%uate" search could be done' 4ould it be correct to do such a pro&ound search o& an! indi#idual+s mind5 (hen" consider ho some innocent indi#iduals are sometimes 7mista$enl!8 ta$en into %uestioning &rom an error in the search &or the true criminal' ,o done" or not5 .rain=enhancements are the other apparent bene&it' 4h!" as human beings e#er e#ol#ing" ould e not desire to e>pand the base capabilities i& it ould allo a human to do much better at the dail! tas$s e alread! per&orm %uite ell5 4alter ?lannon sa!s in his article o& Neuroethics" that 7(hese drugs most li$el! ould target or$ing memor!" hich enables us to per&orm cogniti#e tas$s and e>ecuti#e &unctions li$e reasoning and decision@=Ama$ing'8 .! enlarging our capacit! &or memor! ould it reall! allo us the pleasure to amass an e>tensi#e amount o& memor! that ould al a!s be readil! at our disposal5 ould it be decided that a pro&ound search o& their mind be